Political Context
Although women comprise more than 50 percent of the world's population they are not represented in equal proportions either as political/civic leaders or as voters. For this reason, the National Democratic Institute has developed initiatives since 1995 to train political parties in the importance of capturing the women's vote, provide women with the tools they need to become effective leaders, and raise awareness of issues that particularly affect women throughout Central and Eastern Europe.
NDI has trained female candidates and officials, strengthened women's leadership skills, targeted Get-Out-the-Vote campaigns, and organized a regional anti-trafficking seminar with follow-up activity in select countries with local civic organizations.
Slovakia
Many female voters in Slovakia are highly informed during election campaigns but do not identify a single party as being best able to address issues of importance to them. To maximize turn-out among women and increase the umber of women in political party structures, NDI conducted a "Women in Politics" program in 2002, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with follow-on activity funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). NDI trained more than 225 women candidates and key campaign workers in voter outreach, message development, presentation skills, issue development, time management, and support networks. Two graduates NDI's training went on to become MPs, one was elected to the Bratislava city council and another successfully managed the campaign for the SDKU candidate for mayor in Presov and the four-party coalition for the local council. The Institute also conducted focus groups on the attitudes of women in select regions of Slovakia, and shared the results with over 200 politicians, campaign staff, and parliamentary candidates. Political parties used the results to better market their women candidates to the public, and to develop campaign messages directed at women.
Serbia
In advance of the October 2000 elections that culminated in the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic, NDI gathered 90 women party members from across Serbia's political spectrum for a three day seminar entitled "Women, Politics, Action!" Funded by USAID, the event prepared them to take on greater roles in political life, including the challenge of seeking and holding public office. After two subsequent seminars held in summer 2000, many of the women participants went on to overthrow Milosevic's regime when they became elected officials in the new democratic governments, and they continue to contribute to the development of democracy in Serbia today. Most prominently, Natasa Micic, acting president of Serbia and speaker of the Serbian parliament and Andjelka Mihajlov, Serbian minister of environment, are both graduates of the Institute's programs, along with Mayor of Belgrade Radmila Hrustanovic, and numerous local councilors, local government officials, and presidents of local branches.
Since the first political skills training in 2000, NDI's work with women in Serbian politics continues to produce results. After a recent seminar for elected officials on how to create mechanisms to implement gender equality, for example, participants successfully pushed for the inclusion of women in the government's senior political council. Currently, NDI is conducting advanced trainings for female elected officials who had received previous training from NDI as candidates. The Institute also provides advanced training and individual consultations to women elected officials at all levels of government and, in addition, implements a regular series of basic political skills seminars targeting women who are active within their parties but who are relatively new to politics.
Croatia
In 1999, NDI developed a Women in Politics training module in response to requests from women of various Croatian parties to increase the participation of women in the political process. Since then, NDI has held many training events on a range of topics including effective political leadership, platform development, message creation and delivery, lobbying, voter contact, and media relations. Participants in NDI's women's programs in Croatia have varied from elected officials at the national and local levels to party branch presidents and party activists. With USAID funding, NDI began collaborating with Croatian NGOs and the international community in 2000 to form a working group of women in parliament, resulting in a forum for exchanging information and sharing program ideas, trainers, and approaches. In advance of parliamentary elections anticipated in late 2003, NDI will continue its work with women candidates, party members, and elected officials to improve their presence within Croatia's political institutions.
Bulgaria
With a NED grant, and in collaboration with Bulgaria's Women's Alliance for Development (WAD), NDI sponsored a campaign to raise public awareness of human trafficking and trained WAD activists on designing action plans and platforms. In the summer of 2002, WAD organized 14 roundtables in 11 cities in Bulgaria and developed a questionnaire to assess the public awareness of human trafficking. WAD then designed, printed, and distributed 4,100 booklets, including a guide for girls, a teachers' handbook, and a booklet with general information on trafficking. WAD was invited to attend a session of the parliamentary Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms to present its findings as well as suggestions for combating the problem.
Contact Information
For more information on NDI's women's participation programs, please contact Kristin Haffert in Washington at 202-728-5512.
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